SAN FRANCISCO / East Bay Family Stricken By Poison Mushrooms

Members of an East Bay family remained critically ill at a San Francisco hospital yesterday after eating poisonous "death cap" mushrooms they had picked in Lafayette.

A 53-year-old Richmond man and his 37-year-old nephew from Moraga were in critical condition at the University of California Medical Center and may have to undergo liver transplants. The nephew's 39-year-old wife was in serious condition.

Hospital officials and poison control experts warned Californians not to pick and eat wild mushrooms, which proliferate in rainy weather.

The three East Bay family members, who have not been publicly identified, picked and ate deadly Amanita phalloides mushrooms on Sunday. More than eight hours after eating the mushrooms, they were admitted to an East Bay hospital with severe diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The family was transferred Monday to the Liver- Kidney Transplant Unit at UCSF, where they continue to be monitored.